Iran dismisses fresh U.S. curbs, says it can manage economy

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Friday it had no concerns over the reimposition of new U.S. sanctions on the country’s vital oil and financial sectors, expected to be announced by Washington on Nov. 4.

“America will not be able to carry out any measure against our great and brave nation ... We have the knowledge and the capability to manage the country’s economic affairs,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told state TV.

The U.S. government has agreed to let eight countries, including close allies South Korea and Japan, as well as India, keep buying Iranian oil after it reimposes sanctions on Tehran.

“The possibility of America being able to achieve its economic goals through these sanctions is very remote and there is certainly no possibility that it will attain its political goals through such sanctions,” Qasemi said.

“The new US sanctions will mostly have psychological effects.”

Washington imposed sanctions on Iran in August following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Under the deal, most international sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme were lifted in 2016 in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear work.